Berroa, Willis Are Top Rookies

Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa beat out New York Yankee outfielder Hideki Matsui for American League rookie of the year in voting that rekindled the debate on whether veteran Japanese players should be eligible.

Florida pitcher Dontrelle Willis easily defeated Milwaukee outfielder Scott Podsednik to win the National League award.

Berroa’s victory came in the closest AL rookie race in 24 years. He received 12 first-place votes, seven seconds and seven thirds for 88 points in totals released Monday by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America. Matsui got 10 firsts, nine seconds and seven thirds for 84 points.

Berroa hit .287 with 17 homers, 73 runs batted in, 21 steals and 92 runs, cutting his errors from 19 in his first 63 games to five in his last 95.

Willis received 17 first-place votes and 118 points, while Podsednik got eight firsts and 81 points.

Willis, 21, went 14-6 with a 3.30 earned-run average, slumping in the second half of the season.

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Major League Baseball could give the go-ahead by the end of January to start a World Cup before the 2005 season.

The tournament would include eight to 16 national teams and be played during March 2005 in four to eight U.S. ballparks, according to Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operation officer, and union head Donald Fehr.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates declined to exercise their option on second baseman Pokey Reese, deciding not to pay him $5,125,000 next year after he sat out all but five weeks of last season. Reese received a $750,000 buyout.

Colleges

The Pacific 10 Conference has the highest graduation rate of African American football players among NCAA Division I conferences, according to results of a study released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

Among football players who enrolled from 1993-94 to ‘96-97, 53% of the African Americans at Pac-10 schools graduated. The Pac-10 ranked second in overall graduation rate at 57%, trailing only the ACC at 58%.

Local schools were well above average: UCLA graduated 63% of its football players, including 61% of its African Americans, and USC posted rates of 61% both overall and for African Americans.

Connecticut received 67 first-place votes and 1,793 points from a 72-member national media panel and is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason college basketball poll.

Duke is No. 2, with three first-place votes and 1,667 points, and Michigan State received one No. 1 vote and was No. 3 with 1,607 points. (See complete list, D9).

UCLA was seeded fourth nationally and will play host to the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament Friday and Sunday.

The Bruins (16-1-3) will face San Diego in a first-round game Friday at Drake Stadium. In the other match, USC (9-7-4) will play Pepperdine (13-5-1) in a rematch of a 2001 first-round meeting won by the Waves.

Miscellany

Second-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero lost to eighth-ranked David Nalbandian, 6-3, 6-1, in the Tennis Masters Cup’s opening round-robin match at Houston.

In another match, No. 3 Roger Federer dropped the first set before coming back for a 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (7), victory over No. 5 Andre Agassi.

Former lightweight champion Paul Spadafora was ordered to stand trial in McKees Rocks, Pa., on attempted homicide and other charges for allegedly shooting his girlfriend last month.

Questions remain about whether Nadine Russo, 20, of Pittsburgh, is willing to testify against Spadafora.

FitzBradshaw withdrew its No. 82 Chevrolet from the Busch Series race this weekend after a fire destroyed a backup vehicle, crew uniforms, helmets, tools and other equipment.

The fire broke out Monday in a transporter carrying the car to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Team officials said the primary car, which was to be driven Saturday by Randy Lajoie, was saved.

The U.S. women beat the Dominican Republic in straight sets, 25-17, 25-22, 25-21, in volleyball and improved their record to 7-1 at the World Cup in Sapporo, Japan. The top three teams from the 12-nation field qualify for next year’s Athens Olympics.